<i>Energy Citizens</i> “Just Like You”? Public Relations Campaigning by the Climate Change Counter-movement

The climate change counter-movement (CCCM) was created in 1989 immediately following the formation of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Brulle, R. J. (2014). Institutionalizing delay: Foundation funding and creation US organizations. Climatic Change, 122(4), 681–694.) has only deepened its public influence efforts since Paris Agreement (Besley, T., & Peters, M. A. (2020). Life death Anthropocene: Educating for survival amid ecosystem changes potential civilisation collapse. Educational Philosophy Theory, 52(13), 1347–1357). Striving to spread alternative narratives, CCCM deploys what we characterize as Information Influence Campaigns (IICs), multimedia campaigns executed by relations (PR) contractors designed discourse toward specific conclusions – often using certain value-laden rhetorical frames. In this paper, identify dominant objectives, activities, messaging frames constituting four major IICS surrounding Waxman-Markey bill debates: one representing each three fossil fuel industries along with significant “green” campaign era. By tracing implementation across a diverse array activities achieve discrete demonstrate these actors’ clear intentions steer opinion anti-environmental viewpoints through use strategic PR. When considered together resource advantage held those that propagate discourses, stakes are enormous both policy outcomes integrity sphere.